Word: terhorst
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...nominate J.F. terHorst for Man of the Year...
Barely a month ago, journalists were vigorously applauding President Ford for naming Jerald F. terHorst, respected Washington bureau chief of the Detroit News, as White House press secretary. To reporters who had wearied of slugging it out with the obdurate Ronald Ziegler, the terHorst appointment marked what seemed like the beginning of a new era of presidential accessibility and candor. Ford and terHorst promised a "completely open" White House, and the press generally responded by making the new President's first heady weeks in office one of the warmest such interludes on record...
...TerHorst's sudden resignation over the Nixon pardon appears to have ended that blissful phase, drained the high hopes and seriously smudged the Administration's credibility. TerHorst learned of the pardon only late the day before it was made public, when an inner group of White House aides approached him about arrangements for Ford's announcement. It was not the first time in the past week that terHorst had been kept in the dark about an important presidential decision. White House aides misled him into telling reporters that General Alexander M. Haig Jr. would remain...
...pardon decision was like gasoline poured on those smoldering doubts. The Baltimore Sun called the move "an affront to the principle of equal justice under law, the very foundation of our legal system." NBC News Anchor Man John Chancellor said that he thought terHorst "did exactly the right thing" in resigning over the pardon. Even the Grand Rapids Press, Ford's home-town paper, asked: "How can President Ford clear himself with the public after telling Congress, during his vice-presidential nomination hearing, that a President would have the power to pardon his predecessor, 'but the people wouldn...
...pardon decision and terHorst's resignation may have seemed so alarming only because the press had come to expect too much from a relationship that is at best a contest between natural, if friendly adversaries. If some reporters felt especially betrayed by the White House's dishonesty, it might be because they had come to believe their own over-generous assessments of the new President. Ford could still recoup some credibility by finding another good press secretary. At present, the job is being filled by terHorst's deputy, Jack Hushen, 39, a former Justice Department information officer...